Mosul heals its wounds and tries to turn the page Daesh.
In the city where terrorists were reigning terror and artists forced to destroy their works, half a dozen sculptures have started to stand again.
"The beautiful lady" was the first to emerge in the large northern city which was from 2,014 to 2,017 the "capital" in Iraq of the self-proclaimed "caliphate" of the Islamic State group.
Since September 2018, it has adorned a crossroads where the jihadists still beheaded those who, according to their ultrarigorist vision of Islam, had broken their rules.
"By placing this statue here, I wanted to erase the black and terrible images that have become encrusted in people's minds", explains to AFP Omar Ibrahim, his sculptor.
"'The beautiful lady' is the embodiment of the beauty of Mosul, of its rebirth after all the hardships it went through during this terrible period."
In the Iraqi city, electricity is still scarce and unpredictable, water is sometimes lacking, schools and hospitals are still waiting, and hundreds of thousands of displaced people are losing patience under the tents of makeshift camps on the surrounding plain, with no prospect to see their houses rebuilt.
For those who stayed or were able to return, the new statues are a hope. "Erecting these statues is a necessary step to revive Mosul," said Hadil Najjar, a 30-year-old mother.